Hugo Chavez's last words: 'Please don't let me die'

The sanctification of Venezuela's charismatic leader Hugo Chavez continued in
earnest on Tuesday as his last words were revealed to be "Please don't
let me die" - an entreaty uttered because, the government said, he so
desperately wanted to continue serving the Venezuelan people.

The flag-draped coffin containing the body of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez is taken from the hospital where he diedPhoto: PA

The account of Mr Chavez's final moments came as hundreds of thousands of ordinaryVenezuelansstood for hours in a queue estimated to be a mile long for the chance to file past their former president's open casket as he lay in state in the Military Academy in Caracas.

"He couldn't speak but he said it with his lips ... 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,' because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country," Gen Jose Ornella, the head of Mr Chavez's presidential guard, told the Associated Press.

Hugo Chavez and Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in 2006

The veneration of Mr Chavez, who lost a long battle with cancer on Tuesday, took on an overtly religious symbolism as preparations continued for a massive state funeral in Caracas today to be attended by his allies around the world, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President and Alexander Lukashenko, the dictatorial president of Belarussia.

"Since the day president Chavez was born into this world he was destined to save us," said Angela Acosta, a 64-year-old hairdresser who, like many Chavez devotees, used the language and imagery of Christianity to express their veneration of their charismatic president.

Others among the crimson-clad crowds carried framed pictures of the crucifixion, with pictures of Mr Chavez and Simon Bolivar, the great Latin American revolutionary in whose name the president framed his own 14-year "socialist revolution".

Yesterday a former mayor of Caracas was petitioning the National Assembly to amend the Venezuelan constitution to enable Mr Chavez to be laid to rest next to Mr Bolivar in the grand mausoleum that Mr Chavez built to venerate the independence hero – and now, perhaps, himself.

However by yesterday lunchtime no official pronouncement had been made about where Mr Chavez will be buried, with many Venezuelans assuming he will be laid to rest in his rural home town of Sabaneta, 300 miles southwest of Caracas, where he was born in a house with a dirt floor.

Like hundreds of thousands of others, Mrs Acosta queued for hours in the sapping heat to pass the open coffin where Mr Chavez lay with a red sash on his stomach displaying the word "militia" - the 120-strong armed civilian force that he had formed. A four-man honour guard and four tall candelabras flanked the coffin, with a golden sword at its foot.

She admitted she was exhausted, but added: "I would have queued all night and the next day, if that had been necessary."

In Cuba, where Hugo Chavez exchanged subsidised Venezuelan oil in exchange for doctors, technology and most importantly the political blessing of Fidel Castro, three days of mourning was also declared.

Flags flew at half-mast in Havana where thousands turned out into Havana's vast Revolution Plaza, while in a separate ceremony the Cuban President Raul Castro, dressed in military uniform, placed a wreath before an image of Chavez.

As the official mourning continues, opposition groups kept a low profile, although they indicated that they had agreed that Henrique Capriles, the 40-year-old governor of Miranda State, will run against in the general election which the constitution dictates must be held in the coming months.

Mr Capriles performed creditably when losing to Mr Chavez last October, but this time his opponent will be Nicolas Maduro, the vice-president who Mr Chavez designated as his successor but who has nothing like the charisma of Venezuela's recently departed leader.

A recent opinion poll suggested Mr Maduro should win the election, but as Venezuela grapples with high crime, poor infrastructure and 20 per cent inflation, it is far from clear he will have the personal authority to preserve the Chavez revolution in the years to come.